


The Flying Metal Company

by FerrousKyra



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Rise of Kyoshi - Fandom, Shadow of Kyoshi - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, F/F, Gen, I'm not sure this should even be rated T, Kirima & Wong are about Kyoshi's age, Self-Indulgent, a lot of swearing, which means Kirima is a lot more... potent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:20:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28279773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FerrousKyra/pseuds/FerrousKyra
Summary: Metal band AU
Relationships: Kyoshi/Rangi (Avatar), The Flying Opera Company & Jinpa
Comments: 5
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For the record, the band name is still the Flying Opera Company; not the Flying Metal Company.

"Lek!" a giant woman screams as she bursts through the door into their practice space. "What the fuck is this?"

She's holding up a white paper with a big red circle in a corner.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it." Lek responds.

"What do you mean don't worry about it; you're gonna fail." _Oh, shit._ Kirima thinks. _She's actually only a kid. A very, very tall kid._

"Mom & dad don't give a shit." he dismisses.

"Jesa & Hark don't give a shit about anything. But I do! So you're gonna get a passing grade in _all_ of your classes, or I'll make your life a living hell. & until you do, I'm not driving you anywhere."

Lek bluffs. "That's not a big deal. You got nothing on me."

"If you don't get your act together, I'm siccing Rangi on you. & she demands _perfection_." The giant seethes.

"Any excuse to see your girlfriend,"

The giant's head turns crimson, but she stares him down, unperturbed.

After a while, the boy relents. He hangs his head as he mumbles "I'll try."

.oOo.

"Who the fuck was that?" Kirima asks the second the door closes.

"My sister," Lek provides, "Kyoshi."

"Since when do you have a sister?" she berates.

"Since her stepdad told her my parents are still alive."

"Why haven't we met her before?" Wong asks from behind the drum kit.

"They only found out earlier this year. I don't know how"

"Well, fuck." Kirima eloquently states. "Do you wanna keep practicing, kid?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I need to vent now anyways."

Wong counts them in.

.oO0O0Oo.

Lek is greeted by Kelsang as he's ushered into his & Kyoshi apartment.

Ever since 'the Crazy Giant Bitch Event,' as Kirima had dubbed it, Lek has been coming over here to study with her.

On the way to her room, he hears the sound of a quick-paced bass riff through the walls.

"I didn't know you played bass." he says in lieu of a greeting.

Kyoshi jumps at the disruption. After a couple beats of awkward silence, so goes "Uh, yeah. Rangi, Yun & I were gonna make a band until..." Until Yun went off the deep end & wound up in rehab. (Personally, Kyoshi blames his foster father.)

"Oh, um," Lek tries to be tactful, "What does your girlfriend play?"

"She's not my girlfriend." she automatically responds. Once again, her blush betrays her.

"That's not what I asked."

"Guitar. Rangi plays the guitar. She was also going to sing."

"It's funny how you talk all proper when you think about her."

"Shut up!"

.oO0O0Oo.

"Uuagh." Kirima moans. "I'm tired of this pussy-ass punk crap. Why don't we play anything heavier?"

"Because you can't actually play & sing if it's any more complicated." Wong easily teases.

"Fuck off!" she says, laughing. The boys join in.

"Ok, but seriously though," she continues "Why don't we just recruit some new members?"

"We tried." Wong states. "Everyone who responded to the ad couldn't play shit. & you won't give up vocals."

"Fuck!" she says to the ceiling.

"Actually," Lek interjects, "Kyoshi can play bass. She's pretty good. & as far as I'm aware, she likes metal. I don't know about _heavy_ metal; but she likes metal."

"Are you seriously suggesting that your big sister is gonna play in the band?" Kirima teases.

"Well, we don't have any other options." Wong says.

"& her friend, Rangi, knows guitar. I don't know how much it's exaggerated, but Kyoshi says she's pretty good."

"Does she play metal?" she asks.

"I don't know it for a fact, but there is no doubt in my mind that Rangi Sei'naka likes speed metal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me @ my brain: Ok, you've already written 2 fics where the entire premise is Azula's a metalhead; you need to stop.
> 
> My brain: But consider,
> 
> Brain: Rangshi metal band AU
> 
> Me: I don't even see Kyoshi liking metal. Do you have literally any other ideas?
> 
> Brain: No. Also, writing is literally the ONLY thing I want to do right now.


	2. Chapter 2

The 'sign-ups' were... intense. Kyoshi had pretty quickly caved because 'Lek needs some positive influence that isn't from those two hooligans' or something, but Rangi was _reluctant_.

There was a lot of yelling, & elitism, & fuckton of death glares. In the end her conditions of Lek being rhythm guitar (leaving her as the sole lead guitarist), & Kyoshi writing lyrics were easily met.

She's a hard-ass, but they have no choice unless they want to go back to their three-member punk band. & as much as their occasional grime song (usually written by Wong) to call back on the 'good ol' days' is great, they don't want to go back. Especially considering Kirima no longer has an instrument in her hands; which they're all grateful for.

Also, Rangi is virtually all of their impulse control. _The Flying Opera Company_ had made a tentative four songs as a punk band; but since they added Rangi, it's shot up to nearly half a dozen over the course of a month.

Not to mention that the rare time Rangi couldn't make it, Kyoshi had proven herself to be a great smoking buddy.

All in all it's a net positive.

.oOo.

"Hey, Wong," Kirima says as she tilts her head to him. "But I can make 'prissy' over here blush." She jerks her head slightly in the opposite direction in a gesture towards Rangi.

He snickers. "20 yuans."

"Hey Kyoshi!"

"What?" the giant responds.

"Can you show us that thing where any sane person would just use a pick?"

"Using a pick on bass is sacrilege & you know it!" Kyoshi teases. "& sure; I should practice it more anyway."

A minute into Kyoshi using her fingers as a makeshift pick to strum faster, Kirima strikes.

"Hey, topknot,"

Rangi turns to glare at her.

Kirima simply gestures her head toward the bassist. "She's pretty good with her fingers, huh?" She holds her hand out to Wong.

He digs up 20 Yuans from his pants & places it in her open palm as their lead guitarist storms out.

.oOo.

"So why the _Flying Opera Company_ , anyways?" Kyoshi posits.

"It was the name of Lek's parents' old troupe." Wong replies. They had all long since learned that implying Jesa & Hark are Kyoshi's parents lead to no good. "They would do traditional style plays. Their main _thing_ was Jesa's theatrical stunts. People used to say she could fly. Apparently"

"We're planning on wearing theater paint if we ever land a gig." Lek chimes in.

.oOo.

" _Gasp_. Band-cest!" is how Kirima wakes Kyoshi when she finds her on the floor of Lao Ge's living room.

They had crashed at the old man's because Jesa & Hark used to do it for their own gigs. The _Company_ was following tradition.

He also had enough beds (counting the futon) for all of them. Yet here Kyoshi was; on the floor; with Rangi curled up into her side.

When the bassist jolts up in response to the noise, Rangi's head bounces on the floor.

.oOo.

Zigan is about the shittiest a dive bar could get.

Not to mention the theater makeup that was apparently the _Company's_ shtick. It's very oily, & very thick.

& the owner, Mok, seemed to think that he had done them all a huge favor; so he & his asshole brother, Xu, spent the whole time the band wasn't on stage (excluding sound-check) harassing them. Especially Lek.

Kyoshi was, thankfully, saved from them because at some point Lao Ge found this kid, Te, sneaking around the venue. If she hadn't interfered, he'd've killed the poor bastard.

All things said, it was a pretty successful first gig.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exposition time, baby!

When the members of the _Flying Opera Company_ had scattered, they made sure to keep a schedule for practice. Kyoshi & Rangi never took classes at that time, & Kirima & Lek found an apartment that they all moved into, so they'd be close.

Lek stayed in High School.

They thought they had planned for it. They _did_ plan for it. But starting only 2 months in, Lek had been able to make it to practice less & less.

Eventually, he quit.

Nobody liked it, Lek especially. Not even Rangi could pretend she didn't miss him.

But he could never make it to practice, & he didn't want to hold the band back; so... yeah.

For a while, they tried to make due. No one ever said you _had_ to have two guitarists to be a metal band, after all. Until Iron Maiden, it was unheard of.

After some time, Rangi expressed that she felt like she was being held back. The intricate interweaving of three string instruments accentuated by precise fills became a thing of the past. & she didn't like compensating for it.

Kirima tried playing backing guitar for a grand total of 2 weeks. She was a perfectly competent bassist, but the pick always fell out of her hands.

Kyoshi didn't even last that long. Not once had she managed to pluck a single string at a time. & she never put her fingers in the right spot, accustomed to larger spacing between the frets. (Kirima had made a joke about the 'spacing' of Rangi's junk at the complaint.)

They tried leaning heavy into grime, but they had never tried with one guitarist until that point. Rangi always seemed to either go too fast or too slow without the additional backing.

Not one of them was content to do hair metal.

Rangi could never quite get the energy down for punk.

.oOo.

When it seemed as if the Company was on its last leg, a miracle happened.

Kyoshi had been partnered up with this guy, Jinpa, in her social sciences course. &, at some point into their scheduling, Kyoshi had brought up that she couldn't do a certain time because she had band practice.

Jinpa plays guitar.

Jinpa likes heavy metal. His exact words were _'I like all music.'_ but, when asked, he said that, of the Big Four, he much preferred Metallica & Megadeth. (Which is the correct answer.)

Not to mention that he & Kyoshi became fast friends.

It was perfect. He's exactly what they need.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might go back & change the IRL band names into something more setting-appropriate. I won't be motivated to unless someone says they'd want that, though. Also, feel free to make suggestions for it.
> 
> I plan on next chapter being back in present-tense with more dialogue.


	4. Chapter 4

When Lek graduated highschool, the very first (productive) thing he did was land a job closer to the _Company_. & while it was too packed most days, the five of them under one roof meant consistent practice; & as an added benefit, impromptu jam sessions became a common occurrence.

Rangi switched to dorm life the second she was able to.

.oO0O0Oo.

Jinpa much prefers behind the scenes work. So when the rest of the band was sitting around trying to not-kick-him-out-but-also-very-much-kick-him-out, he was honestly pretty psyched. Pretty soon he was in charge of nearly everything that doesn't involve performing in front of a half dozen drunks in a seedy bar.

Well, Rangi is co-manager, but he prefers her calling the shots anyway.

The only downside is having to constantly tell half the band "[not to] touch that!' That, or to wait their turn during sound check.

.oO0O0Oo.

"Alright, Kyoshi," Jinpa coaches "we've got just about 3 minutes left in the studio; so last take. Make it count."

Kirima runs up to the button that lets you talk to the person on the other side of the glass & presses excessively hard. "Pour your fucking heart into it!"

Kyoshi responds with an exhalation that can be generously called a laugh.

She doesn't love singing. Not in front of other people, anyway. Certainly not on their first album that Republic City Records is mostly fucking them over on but still actually paying them to make.

Normally, all she does is scream. It's more obscure knowledge than raw talent in her opinion. If you fuck up, you stop, otherwise it's little more than math.

Except she taught Rangi how to & now she's the default backing vocalist because she _is_ talented at it.

Kyoshi is standing in front of a mic she _can't_ even scream into. Not without getting in trouble, at least.

& Wong handles the low pitch stuff. (Kyoshi can go lower, but it isn't much comfort considering her current task is tuned to her natural range.)

To say she's uncomfortable is an understatement.

But it's _her_ song. The one she wrote all alone. Everyone insisted that Kyoshi _has_ to sing it; & as much as she doesn't want to, she agrees.

.oOo.

When Kyoshi exits the booth with tear-stained cheeks, she's surrounded by praise.

Most of them are saying some variant of "Holy shit, that was great."

Wong says she "went a bit soul there for a second." Kyoshi doesn't know if it's teasing or genuine praise.

Rangi manages to pick her jaw off the floor for the first time in over a minute just to pull Kyoshi down by the collar of her shirt for a searing kiss.

.oO0O0Oo.

When the record releases, the _Flying Opera Company_ throws a giant party.

Lek, Kirima, Wong, Jesa, & Hark all have several bouts of air guitar circles.

Atuat, Hei-Ran's ~~girlfriend~~ nurse, gets drunk early-on & seems to think it's an actual concert.

Hei-Ran herself has this proud look in her eyes that is pretty disconcerting; she keeps gravitating around her daughter. Rangi gets pretty misty eyed.

Kyoshi cries nearly the entire time because Kelsang keeps praising the band for a ton of small details most of them thought no one would notice. She's too overwhelmed to speak just from the look he gives her after her song finishes up the album/listening party.

.oOo.

Jinpa has a makeshift stage set up for an encore. All six of them perform a band-wide favorite.

.oOo.

"WE ARE THE FLYING OPERA COMPANY!"


	5. Album Art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonus art!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the 1st chapter I made Sei'naka Rangi's last name, which goes against my headcanon that the Fire Nation does surname-first (Ty Lee) & I can't be bothered to fix it, so I don't really know if this is canon for this fic or not, but whatever.

**Author's Note:**

> Also for the record, I have nothing against punk; it's just not what the characters want to play in the fic.


End file.
